GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T softball team played two eight-inning games Saturday afternoon at the Lady Aggies Softball Complex. The first did not go in the Aggies' favor. Not only did the Coppin State Eagles rally in the seventh inning to send the game into extra innings, but they also put together an eight-run eighth inning to defeat the Aggies 13-7.
But Game 2's eighth inning went much better as A&T flipped the script and rallied to win. Graduate right fielder had a game-winning RBI sacrifice fly to right to score senior second baseman Alyxx Estrada to secure a doubleheader split with the Eagles with a 4-3 victory. The Aggies took two out of three from the Eagles after their 8-2 win over Coppin on Friday.
Howard's RBI sac fly gave her two for the game. The Aggies improved to 4-8 on the season despite only having two hits in Game 2. Despite a slow start, A&T starter Sharla Kirkpatrick (W, 1-3) kept the Aggies close, pitching her way out of several difficult situations to allow the Aggies to inch back into the game. Kirkpatrick pitched eight innings, striking out three, walking one and giving up three runs on 11 hits. Coppin stranded 10 runners in the second game.
The Eagles left two runners in the second before getting on the board in the third as Avianna Peterson opened the frame with a single to center and moved to third on a single by Celeste Gonzalez. With one out, Manaia Fonoti grounded out to second to score Peterson to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. An RBI single from Seryna Esparza brought home Gonzalez and added another run. Giselle Ulloa added another single, but Kirkpatrick avoided further harm when Brooklyn Tapusoa grounded out to third.
Coppin took a 3-0 lead thanks to an RBI triple from Gonzalez to score Xzylia Maravilla. Coppin starter Vanessa Carrizosa (L, 2-3) pitched an excellent game against A&T. She no-hit the Aggies over the first five innings, but that all changed when Kyla Graves led off the sixth inning by launching a home run over the right-field fence to cut the Eagles lead to 3-1.
Carrizosa ran into more trouble when she walked Avery Evans, and Estrada reached on a throwing error to put Aggies on first and second. Freshman center fielder Destiny Sims walked to load the bases before the first of Howard's two RBI sac flies went to center fielder to score Evans to make it a 3-2 game going into the visitor's seventh, where the Eagles threatened to expand their lead.
Kirkpatrick faced runners on first and second with one out. But she got Ulloa to fly out to center, and Tapusoa weakly hit a slow ground ball back to the circle for out No. 3, sending the game into the home seventh.
A&T head coach Jose Gonzalez Jr. called on freshman Trinity Glover to pinch hit to open the frame. The decision paid off, with Glover singling up the middle. Carrizosa recovered to strike out Makayla Layton. Sophomore Kyla Graves grounded out to move Glover to second, but it put Coppin one out away from sweeping the doubleheader.
Things looked even more dicey for the Aggies when Evans hit a line drive right at Peterson at second. But Peterson dropped the line drive, allowing Glover to score the game-tying run. Evans stole second, but the inning ended when Estrada flew out to center to send the game into extra innings.
By rule, the Eagles were allowed to put the player who made the last out in the previous inning on second. Therefore, Tapusoa went to second and moved to third on a sac bunt from Leslie Sereno. But Maravilla and Peterson grounded out to end the inning. In the Aggies eighth, Estrada went to second and advanced to third on a sac bunt from Sims, leading to Howard's heroics.
The Game 1 eighth inning did not go as smoothly for A&T. The Aggies scored three runs in the first inning off Coppin starter Emily Quintero (W, 2-0) before a third-inning grand slam from Tapusoa gave the Eagles a 4-3 lead. The Aggies tied the game in the fourth on an RBI single from junior Joey Barkhimer and took the lead in the fifth on a Howard home run. It marked the 11th career home run for the Claflin transfer and her second this season.
But the Eagles sent the game into extra innings on an RBI double from Tapusoa off A&T reliever Amaya Kearse (L, 1-1) before the Eagles put together their eight-run eighth. A&T did get a two-run triple from Layton in its half of the eighth, but it was not enough.
Howard, Caldwell, Layton and Sims drove in two runs apiece. Tapusoa had five RBIs and Quintero had three for the Eagles. The Aggies return to action on Sunday for another doubleheader as they welcome Norfolk State to the Complex for a 1 p.m. start.
